Absorbent articles, such as diapers and sanitary napkins, absorb and contain body exudates. They also are intended to prevent body exudates from soiling, wetting, or otherwise contaminating clothing or other articles, such as bedding, that come in contact with the wearer. A disposable absorbent article, such as a disposable diaper, may be worn for several hours in a dry state or in a urine-loaded state. Accordingly, efforts have been made toward improving the fit and comfort of the absorbent article to the wearer, both when the article is dry and when the article is fully or partially loaded with liquid exudate, while maintaining or enhancing the absorbing and containing functions of the article.
Efforts have also been made to make absorbent article thinner when dry, to improve the comfort of such articles.
Some absorbent articles, like diapers, contain absorbent material such as super absorbent polymers that absorbs very high quantities of liquid and causes the absorbent article to swell significantly. Such articles will thus increase significantly in volume during use, and sometimes in particular in the crotch area between the wearer's legs, which may render the article uncomfortable.
There is thus still a need to further improve the fit of such articles and/or the liquid transportation away from the crotch. There is also a need to reduce the usage of absorbent material in such articles.
There is also still a need to further reduce the chance of leakage and to improve the efficiency of absorbency of an absorbent article, such as a diaper.
It has also been found that improved liquid transportation can be achieved by the provision of transportation channels for distributing liquid in the absorbent article, e.g. the absorbent structure thereof. Furthermore, it has surprisingly been found that the amount of absorbent material can be reduced hereby, whilst maintaining the performance. It has been found that improved fit can be obtained by providing absorbent articles with absorbent structures whereby the absorbent material is structured in machine direction, optionally with areas that comprise less or no absorbent material, for improved bending flexibility in use (in the direction corresponding to the machine direction).
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for providing such absorbent structures, having suitable transportation channels, which allow reduction of the usage of absorbent material and/or channels that improve fit/flexibility.